With an A-list Hollywood career, an Oscar on her bookshelf and a loyal legion of fans, some might say Halle Berry is living large. But, she insists, that's nothing compared to the real-life Egyptian queen she longs to portray. "If you're going to do Nefertiti, it's gotta be big," she said this week, flashing a wide smile. "You can't do a little version of Nefertiti. It has to be larger than life." The actress has made a pet project out of the story of the wife of an Egyptian pharaoh and plans to reunite with director Mark Forster ("Monster's Ball") for the B.C.-era biopic. "[Ancient epics] are big movies to make," Berry said. "They're huge undertakings. We want to make sure that we have all of our ducks in a row before we decide to step out there." ...

With apologies to Snoop Dogg, a West Coast party is no longer the best kind of party — not when you can have a bash like the girls on MTV's "My Super Sweet 16," according to singers/actors/sisters Aly & AJ. "[Our film] is based on the show, and you'll see a lot of [familiar things]: drama and lots of catfights," Aly said of the duo's upcoming movie of the same name. "It's got some heart to it at the very end, which is kind of neat." And to make things even more dramatic, these typically tight siblings play enemies in the flick. "We don't play sisters, which is kind of funny," AJ grinned. "We play total rivals." The movie premieres July 8 at 2 p.m. on MTV and comes out July 10 on DVD. The girls' yet-untitled third album drops July 17 and a summer tour will follow. ...

Shia LaBeouf may have finished filming his summer blockbuster "Transformers" months ago, but he insists that the real stars are making the finishing touches at this very moment. "I can tell you that [special-effects studio Industrial Light and Magic], the company that did 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' 'Spider-Man" and 'Superman' graphics, they do all the graphics for these movies, and they said this is the most insane thing they've ever worked on," the "Disturbia" leading man grinned. Asked about whether he performed his own stunts while telling the story of the Autobots and Decepticons, LaBeouf was as proud as he was honest. "I did most of them. That's always hard work, but especially working with [director Michael] Bay," he said of the "Pearl Harbor" filmmaker. "[There'll be] real crazy action — action I don't know how to explain. ... I wasn't expecting the robots to be as big as they are. They're like 70 stories high." Co-starring Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and Bernie Mac, "Transformers" hits theaters July 4. ...

She sports a machine-gun leg in "Grindhouse," but that's nothing, star Rose McGowan said, compared to the real-life oddities of the late actress Susan Cabot. "She [starred] in all these Roger Corman films, with these crazy sets and elaborate costumes, [like] 'The Wasp Woman,' " McGowan said of the woman she'll portray in the upcoming biopic "Black Oasis." "She was obsessed with being really short — I think she was about 4'10". She had a kid, and she was sure he was going to grow up to be big and tall and strong, that was her big dream. [But] then he was born with dwarfism." Cabot's son Timothy, who also suffered psychologically, eventually bludgeoned Cabot to death in 1986, ending a bizarre life that McGowan is eager to recount. "She was actually engaged to King Hussein [of Jordan] at one point, [before] he found out she was Jewish and wouldn't marry her," McGowan said. Written and directed by "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" mastermind Stephan Elliott, "Black Oasis" will also have McGowan re-creating many of the late actress' more notorious roles. "Her [life] starts going crazy and [she] confuses her reality with these movies," the 33-year-old actress said of the script. "So I get to go back and play her in all these insane movies with these insane costumes." "Black Oasis" is expected to begin filming in the fall. ...

Some people claim that there's a little bit of Bob Dylan in everyone, but actors Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and Hayden Christiansen will soon be taking the influence of the legendary musician even further. "I came in and I shot the first two weeks, and then Cate Blanchett came and shot the next two or three weeks, and then Heath Ledger came in and shot for two weeks," Gere said of the rotating cast playing very different interpretations of Dylan in the ambitious flick "I'm Not There." "I think it was five or six of us who are expressionistically, vaguely playing Bob Dylan, some more directly than others." So, which Dylan did Gere get? "It's the end of the road, y'know. It's [the soundtrack to] 'Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.' It's 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door.' That's the feeling of it," Gere said. "It's more artful, I think, than a [normal] biopic. It's not a traditional plot we're dealing with here." The buzz-heavy flick is set to hit theaters in September. ...

Somewhere, Tom Hanks must be spinning in his, um, king-size bed stuffed with million-dollars bills. Twentieth Century Fox has begun filming a sequel to the 1984 classic that launched the A-lister's career without any of the stars of the original flick. "Bachelor Party 2" will be a straight-to-DVD release along the lines of recent "American Pie" sequels, and will star up-and-comers Josh Cooke, Sara Foster and Gregg Pitts. Currently shooting in Miami, the flick tells the story of a man who proposes to his gal after only a few months of dating and is then treated to the ultimate bachelor party by her brother-in-law who secretly hopes to sabotage their nuptials. "The Big Bounce" star Foster will essentially be playing the Tawny Kitaen role, with notables Harland Williams ("Employees of the Month") and Emmanuelle Vaugier ("Saw II") also making appearances. The sequel hits video stores in spring 2008, some 24 years after the original. ...

"Black Christmas" star Michelle Trachtenberg is preparing a high-profile return to her "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV roots, currently filming an upcoming show called "The Hill." "This is the first that I have been talking about it, but I'm going back to TV," she revealed to us recently. "I'm doing a half-hour show for ABC, and it's a big fancy comedy. You'll all have to tune in and laugh a lot." From "Friends" producer Shana Goldberg-Meehan, the show will be similarly focused on an ensemble, this time using a Washington political backdrop. "It's about the interns on Capitol Hill and the debauchery that goes along with that," Trachtenberg said of the plot. "It's me and ['The Hot Chick' star] Eric Christian Olsen, so there's a lot of funny to be had." ...

Hollywood ain't always easy, especially when you're trying to make a name for yourself. Take Dan Fogler, the fast-rising theater veteran who has upward of 10 movies in various stages of development but is still a virtual unknown outside of Hollywood. I gained like 50 pounds," he laughed recently, revealing his dedication to a project called "Number Thirteen" that would have him play legendary director Alfred Hitchcock. "I was gigantic, going, 'Good evening!' and just walking around my house all day. Then, they were like, 'Um, that got pushed off several months!' " Shrugging, he added: "OK, so now I'm gigantic and British." Fogler insisted that the tenuously financed film will go forward, however, with him working alongside Ewan McGregor, Ben Kingsley and Emily Mortimer in a fictionalized tale about the death of a lead actor in one of Hitch's early films. "It's in the works. The script is pretty good," Fogler added.